A Rare Silver Alloy Figure of Buddha with attendants

SWAT VALLEY, 7TH/8TH CENTURY

Details

A Rare Silver Alloy Figure of Buddha with attendants
Swat Valley, 7th/8th century
Seated in dhyanasana on a lotus throne supported by three frontally depicted elephants with his hands folded in his lap, wearing a long robe draped down the center in concentric folds, his face with a benign expression with almond-shaped eyes beneath incised arched brows, surmounted by a domed ushnisha and backed by a flaming halo, flanked by two Bodhisattvas in mirrored stances holding flywhisks, with a silvery gray patina overall
6 in. (14.8 cm.) high

Provenance

Acquired in the 1990s

Lot Essay

Figures of this type including the halo are very rare; for the attendant figures compare with a fragment from the Eilenberg Collection, see M. Lerner and S. Kossak, The Lotus Transcendent, 1991, cat. no. 87, p. 117. Elephants supporting the base is an usual feature in metal sculpture of the period, as opposed to lions or a plain lotus base; compare with a figure of Akshobhya at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, see J. Menzies (ed.), Buddha, Radiant Awakening, 2001, cat. no. 68, p. 96.

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